World AM News Briefs For Wednesday, 26 July 2017
Good Morning Australia!! - Trump really, really wants to be dictator - How can three Aussie lawmakers turn out to be double-secret foreigners? - Turkey's tee shirt paranoia - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:
Okay, this dual-citizenship thing is getting ridiculous. Resources Minister Matt Canavan has resigned from PM Malcolm Turnbull's cabinet after learning he an accidental Italian citizenship. Despite being born in Australia, his mother - who was also born in Australia - registered them both for Italian citizenship in 2006. And despite it being mind-boggling that a grown man can be registered for citizenship in another country without his freaking knowledge, Canavan stood down - as did Green Party Senators Larissa Waters and Scott Ludlam who recently learned that paperwork errors that occurred when they were babies left them with dual citizenships. Section 44 of the Australian Constitution holds that dual citizens cannothold public office.
Donald Trump is really trying to get his Attorney General Jeff Sessions - his earliest supporter in the presidential campaign - to quit. The orange clown said he was "disappointed" in Sessions for recusing himself from the Justice Department investigation into Russian influence on the 2016 presidential election, and has referred to Sessions as "beleaguered" and "weak"; Trump also wants Sessions to investigate his former political opponent Hillary Clinton, just like a third-rate banana republic would do. But the thing is Trump cannot just fire the guy without taking a massive political hit, especially after firing FBI Director James Comey for failing to stop the Russian investigation. If he does he sets off a constitutional crisis.
Swiss police arrested the man suspected of a chainsaw attack on an insurance office. After losing him in the woods for a full day, police eventually found 50-year old Franz Wrousis 60 kilometers away from the attack. He is said to be a disgruntled customer of the insurance office.
The Russian human rights group Memorial has identified 13 of 27 people apparently abducted and summarily executed by security forces in the Russian republican of Chechnya - which is ruled with an iron fist by Ramzan Kadyrov, a whackjob loyalist of Vladimir Putin. The Chechnyan government denies it and accuses the group of trying to revive the issue of police abductions of gay Chechens, which also occured earlier this year. The executions in questions aren't linked to Chechnya's oppression of LGBT people, which gives an idea of how bad things are over there. Amnesty International says it is "unimaginable that abuse on this scale could take place without the full knowledge of Kadyrov and his associates".
What has crawled up Erdogan's butt this time? Turkish police are arresting people - dozens of them - for wearing a T-Shirt the government of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan thinks is associated with his exiled political and religious rival Fethullah Gulen. The retailer stopped selling the simple white tee with the English word "hero" on the front after 30 people were taken into custody. Apparently, the same shirt was worn by a soldier who allegedly took place in last year's failed coup against Erdogan (who once had his balls kicked by a horse).
And just like that, the controversy over Charlie Gard was back on. The parents are now arguing with their hospital in the UK over the terminally-ill baby's final arrangements - they wish to take him home, the hospital insists his specialized life support can only be maintained in the facility. The Gard family yesterday abandoned their fight to take the baby for unapproved experimental therapy in Boston, USA - the doctor offering the treatment determined it would work in Charlie's case.